The invention herein relates to carrying apparatus, more particularly a carrier for personal sized objects, such as food containers or the like, which can be selectively engaged by the carrier and subsequently released therefrom.
Carriers of this general type are known, as exemplified by the following patents:
No. D.254,170 issued Feb. 12, 1980 PA1 No. 4,207,997 issued June 17, 1980
Of particular note with regard to U.S. Pat. No. 4,207,997 is the extensive discussion therein relative to the advantages of and limitations in detachable carriers. The disclosure of this patent is herein incorporated by reference.
One particular advantage of such carriers is the elimination of individual handles on individual containers. Rather, a single carrier is used to sequentially accommodate any number of containers. This in turn provides for more compact containers which facilitates container storage and results in substantial savings in materials and manufacturing procedures.
Limitations of such carriers generally involve difficulties in properly engaging the carrier with the container to provide for a positive support of the container while allowing substantially free access to the container, and in particular the loading end thereof, whether open or covered.
Another area of potential difficulty is the handle itself, particularly with regard to those carriers wherein the handle is formed of multiple elements which, during use, are to be manually retained or mechanically interlocked into a single handle or hand grip.